With the Jacksonville Jaguars having the No. 1 overall pick secured, there were many of their fans watching the Sugar Bowl Friday to see how the upcoming draft’s top prospect, Trevor Lawrence, looked. However, they got much more as it was another player the fanbase has grown to know who balled out in Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
After facing a lot of criticism leading into this point, Fields pounced on the opportunity to prove a lot of his doubters wrong Friday night and proved that he belongs in the conversation with Lawrence. He was in the zone all night, finishing the game 22-of-28 (78.6%) for 385 yards and six touchdown passes, which is a Sugar Bowl record. Ultimately, that was more than enough to get the Buckeyes the win as the final score was 49-28.
The most impressive about Field’s performance was that he went through over half of it after taking a hard shot from linebacker James Skalski to the right torso area, which might have resulted in a rib injury. Despite that, he gutted through the remaining six minutes of the first half and was able to hit receiver Chris Olave for a 9-yard touchdown before the quarter was over.
Fields received some shots to help manage the pain and proceeded to throw four touchdown passes after the injury. Now, he’ll move on to the national championship and take on Alabama.
As for Lawrence, he’ll now turn his attention towards deciding on entering the draft, something many believe is likely. Despite being defeated by Fields and company, he’ll remain the top prospect and would be a great choice for Jacksonville, but Fields deserves credit for closing the gap.
https://youtu.be/FEiCfSGmsrc